North to South

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Suddenly the smell of sun on dry grass. Our leg from Adis Ababa to Lilongwe has been given a knee! - a one hour stop in DRC. As the doors open to allow passengers to board and "de-plane" (call me fussy, but I prefer "disembark"!), a scent of Africa invades and refreshes the cabin's imported air with local Lubumbashi spice.

A gentleman now occupying the seat beside me speaks French to a friend on his mobile. We get talking. His English is only as good as by French, but we manage. Francesco Nchikala is a musician, en route to Belgium for a concert. "People say I'm like Fela Kute, but I'm not as successful as him!" He's also in to aid work. Two projects:

"Les enfants de la rue", which involves teaching musical instruments to "road kids", and another, with support from the UEFA Foundation - some outreach to children based on a kind of football, "Kifumpa", using a ball made of rags. "Some nights we talk to 100 children, others only 10. But it's a great way to reach out. Life is hard for these children."

I want to look Francesco up on Spotify.

(I did look up Francesco! Also see a short clip on YouTube, here.)

Since Adis, team member Carolyn has been chatting with Courtenay, who's also on her way to Lilongwe. Courtenay works for a U.S. NGO that fosters good governance in Africa by monitoring elections. Voting for national government is 2 years away in Malawi, but she's going as part of preparations already underway.

All these conversations help make the transition from North to South not just a physical one.

Less than an hour until Lilongwe. We've been traveling for 24 hours so far. I love my neck-cushion! 

I'm excited for members of our group who've not been before. In a way, that's all of us. The challenge has changed even since some of us were here just less than a year ago. "Last week the Malawi Kwacha was devalued", Courtenay told Carolyn. It will mean our dollars go further on this visit - more cement in more holes - but it spells stress for the country, and, no doubt, shifts in priorities at Home of Hope as the leadership continue to perform their on-a-shoestring miracle of "infancy to indepence" for hundreds of children.

9.30pm and we arrived at Home of Hopewith all our luggage 🙏, under light broken cloud and a full moon, and the welcome of beds already beautifully made up for us under mosquito nets. Our first nsima and beans of the trip, then sleep. So happy to be here.

Alex

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